Category: health coaching

Honoring Hunger with Intuitive Eating

You don’t need a diet, meal plan or calorie counter to tell you when to eat. The body knows exactly how much fuel it needs, and hunger is your body’s way of letting you know when it needs more. When you have true physical hunger, you’ll experience an empty feeling in your stomach and/or feel your stomach growl. Honoring hunger means listening to your body’s signals and eating when hungry.

Just as you wait for the gas tank on your car to fall to E before filling it with more gas, let your body use up the fuel it has before you had more food to your stomach.

While waiting for hunger makes sense, there are many times we eat for reasons other than true hunger… mindlessly while watching TV, because it’s “time to eat,” because you see other people eating, out of emotions like boredom, stress, loneliness, etc., or purely out of habit. In these instances, your stomach is not calling for food, but your head/emotions are. It’s important to recognize the difference between physical hunger, head hunger and emotional hunger.

Eating for reasons other than true hunger, will likely give your body more food than it needs (which oftentimes gets stored on the body in places we don’t want it!).

If your goal is to lose weight, maintain a healthy weight, or become an intuitive eater, waiting for true physical hunger before you eat is something to work towards!

So, before you eat your next meal, ask yourself, ‘Am I actually hungry?’

TOP 3 GREEN SUPERFOODS 🌱🌿

While I find the word “superfood” to be completely over-used these days, especially since all whole foods offer nutrients making them pretty “super,” I’d still like to give the title to my three favorite greens powders!

These “superfood” greens are packed with nutrients and offer many health benefits. I’ve listed just some of the health benefits below:

🌱Morninga ~ comes from India’s ancient “miracle” tree. It’s high in antioxidants and vitamins, including iron, magnesium, zinc, vitamin A, vitamin C, as well as B vitamins. It’s also a great source of calcium, potassium and protein, and can be used to help balance cholesterol and blood sugar levels.

🌱Chlorella ~ this algae contains chlorophyll, beta carotene and is a great source of vitamin C, iron and protein. Chlorella has also been known to help rid the body of heavy metals and other toxins. You’ll want to look for “broken cell” or “cracked cell” Chlorella as this will aid in digestibility and absorption.

I’ll be completely honest – none of these greens powders taste amazing 😬, however, the flavor of these powders can be easily masked in a fruit smoothie!

It’s a vicious cycle that produces so much food anxiety that it can ruin your experience around the holidays, dinner parties and gatherings.

And this is why diets always backfire. When you follow a diet, it will tell you what to eat and what not to eat. Which foods are “good” and which are “bad.” And diets tell you to eat a certain way 100% of the time (pssttt, impossible. We’re humans not robots). This sets us up for nothing but food fear and guilt, and creates an unhealthy relationship with food.

In a healthy, balanced lifestyle, there’s a time and place for all foods. No foods are off-limits, and knowing this, we can allow ourselves to enjoy what we want, without guilt. Moderation can be more easily achieved because the feeling to have it all ‘now or never’ (which often stems from restriction/deprivation) goes away!

You can enjoy some chocolate or ice cream or pizza, have enough of it to feel satisfied, and stop there because you know you can have some again tomorrow if you want.

So before you dive headfirst into the dessert table, remind yourself that it doesn’t have to be starve or stuff. There’s an enjoyable balance in the middle. And that’s food freedom.

Want to stop dieting and find a healthy balance with food?! Start with a FREE 1:1 Virtual Coaching session: fill out the form below or email tina@nourishedwellness.com

The holidays can be a difficult time to stay committed to your health goals. And if you’re watching your weight, all of the tempting food can cause a lot of anxiety and food guilt.

The holidays are a time to be enjoyed – not stress out over food!

I created a FREE guide that shares my top tips for completely changing the way you handle food during the holidays!

*Learn how to enjoy without going overboard *Learn when to indulge and how to do it wisely *Get rid of food anxiety and food guilt *Change your mindset and approach to food *Become a more mindful eater *Tips for staying healthy during the holiday season

This guide will help you navigate the holiday festivities wisely, so you can make this your healthiest and most enjoyable holiday season yet!

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Disclaimer

Please note: I am not a registered dietitian. I am a Health Coach with certifications from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition and the Drugless Practitioners of America. The information on this site is not intended to substitute medical advice. I encourage you to speak with a medical professional before making any changes to your current routine.